SUMMARY
- Jordan Henderson joined the Saudi Pro League club Al-Ettifaq in July 2023 after exiting Liverpool.
- Cristiano Ronaldo signed with the Saudi club Al-Nassr on December 2022.
Jordan Henderson joined the Saudi Pro League club Al-Ettifaq in July 2023. The England-born player has a current contract with the club that runs till June 2026. The former Liverpool midfielder exited the Premier League side with whom he also became the Champions of English top-flight soccer, to venture into the Middle East.
Since signing for Al-Ettifaq Jordan Henderson has registered five assists to his name. In his first 17 outings for the club, his 15 appearances have come in the Saudi Pro League. Two of them were in this season’s King’s Cup. Jordan acts as a pivotal figure in the middle of the park for Al-Ettifaq. He pretty much covers the link between the team’s attack and defense.
In a recent report by ‘CristianoXtra’ on ‘X’, the former Liverpool player expressed his thoughts regarding the Saudi Pro League and Cristiano Ronaldo. The 33-year-old stated – “I started watching Saudi League matches after the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo”.
🚨Jordan Henderson: “I started watching Saudi League matches after the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo. Especially in the summer since Ronaldo joined, that have come to make the league better and try to improve it, and hopefully that can continue. Since Cristiano come here,… pic.twitter.com/fgxppMcWfD
— CristianoXtra (@CristianoXtra_) December 19, 2023
The midfielder further asserted – “Especially in the summer since Ronaldo joined, that have come to make the league better and try to improve it”. “Hopefully, that can continue”. He opined that the arrival of CR7 in the Saudi League has geared up “more interest” in everyone toward the competition matches.
Jordan has himself been doing well in the league for Al-Ettifaq. Alongside him and CR7, many other players from the Premier League have also joined the Saudi Pro League. Players like Ruben Neves, Sadio Mane, and Roberto Firmino fulfill that list. Players like these certainly raise the level of the league a notch higher. It makes it slightly harder to compete in.
Jordan Henderson on the reasons behind his Saudi Pro League move
The 33-year-old faced a certain amount of backlash upon his exit from Liverpool to play in the Saudi Pro League. Many of the Liverpool fans termed his move to Saudi as being struck by the sole reason of higher financial leverage.
However, the player termed those rumors false. In a report by ‘GOAL’, the England international stated why he signed for Al-Ettifaq. “People will see this club come with loads of money and he’s just gone, ‘yeah, I’m going’. In reality that wasn’t the case at all”, he reportedly expressed. “In my life and my career, money has never been a motivation”, Jordan further stated.
The midfielder expressed that in a transfer things such as “the tight business deal“, apt “financials”, “the feeling of being “valued”, and “wanted”, should be there. He opined that money is just a small part of all of it. The player inflicted that he saw these “possibilities” ahead of the money factor.
It can be drawn out, that the English player values the other aspects of his Al-Ettifaq transfer more than the money. It remains to be seen whether he could be a top player for the Saudi-based club, as he did for the Premier League giants Liverpool.